My Solo Trip to Greece and Turkey | Cruising from Athens to Istanbul — Transcript

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1. 0:00hello from greece and turkey
2. 0:04[Music]
3. 0:22this week i'm cruising from greece to
4. 0:24turkey thanks to seabourn who's hosting
5. 0:26me i first sailed with seabourn a few
6. 0:28years ago in alaska which was one of the
7. 0:31best travel experiences i've ever had if
8. 0:34you haven't seen that video i will link
9. 0:35it down below this cruise starts in
10. 0:37athens and ends in istanbul and it's my
11. 0:39first time in greece i've always wanted
12. 0:42to come here i arrived in athens a
13. 0:44little early so i could do some
14. 0:45exploring and it's a really cool city
15. 0:48you can see the acropolis up on the hill
16. 0:50from pretty much everywhere and i did
17. 0:52the hike up there and saw the parthenon
18. 0:54and it was spectacular definitely worth
19. 0:56a visit if you come to athens this
20. 0:58cruise is going to be hopping around
21. 1:00some greek islands there are a few stops
22. 1:02in turkey as well and it's going to be
23. 1:05beautiful beaches and cute little port
24. 1:07towns and some really cool ancient
25. 1:09historical sites as well
26. 1:13our first stop was the greek island of
27. 1:15patmos i've always heard that the
28. 1:17smaller lesser-known greek islands have
29. 1:19a lot of the charm but a fraction of the
30. 1:22crowds that the popular islands do and i
31. 1:24found this to be true of patmos there's
32. 1:26little restaurants and alleyways and
33. 1:28scooters you can rent it's really cute
34. 1:30and if you go definitely head up to the
35. 1:32windmills at the top of the island to
36. 1:34get the best views
37. 1:38[Music]
38. 1:40it's another perfect day in greece today
39. 1:43we are at the island of crete which is
40. 1:46the largest greek island we're at the
41. 1:48port of ajios nikolaus which has this
42. 1:50really cute little lake in the town
43. 1:52center and some really pristine beaches
44. 1:55along the coastline so today is going to
45. 1:56be a beach day on the island i caught a
46. 1:59taxi out to velizma beach which was
47. 2:01about a 15-minute drive and there you
48. 2:03can rent a lounge chair and umbrella and
49. 2:06the water is so clear and warm and
50. 2:08there's even a little cove along the
51. 2:10coastline you can swim to
52. 2:11[Music]
53. 2:19our next stop was kusadasi turkey and
54. 2:21this was an exciting stop because it's
55. 2:23where you can visit the ancient port
56. 2:25city of ephesus i knew nothing about
57. 2:27ephesus prior to this trip so i booked a
58. 2:29seabourn shore excursion for a guided
59. 2:31tour while ephesus is now in modern day
60. 2:34turkey it was originally part of greece
61. 2:36and was once considered the most
62. 2:37important greek city and trading center
63. 2:40in the mediterranean and was later
64. 2:42controlled by the roman empire there is
65. 2:45so much history here but i'm just going
66. 2:46to share the fun things that stood out
67. 2:48to me for starters this is where
68. 2:50cleopatra and marc anthony came on their
69. 2:52honeymoon they walked these streets as
70. 2:55newlyweds you'll also see a stone
71. 2:57carving here of nike the greek goddess
72. 2:59of victory who is what the famous brand
73. 3:01is named after and a familiar-looking
74. 3:04swoosh in her sculpture is supposedly
75. 3:06where the brand logo comes from we also
76. 3:09got to see the roman toilets back in the
77. 3:12day the toilets were a social activity
78. 3:15and they were co-ed so it was a thing to
79. 3:18hang out in the toilets together which
80. 3:21is a nightmare also in ephesus you'll
81. 3:23see the library of celsius which is so
82. 3:25beautiful and was the third largest
83. 3:28library in the roman world
84. 3:31i'm back on the ship after ephesus which
85. 3:33was incredible and i've taken a shower
86. 3:36gotten dressed up a little bit because
87. 3:38i'm about to go back to ephesus the
88. 3:41coolest thing is happening tonight after
89. 3:43the site closes to the public seabourn
90. 3:45has planned a private event for the
91. 3:46guests of this ship to spend an evening
92. 3:49at ephesus under the stars among ancient
93. 3:53ruins while a chamber orchestra plays
94. 3:55for us
95. 3:57[Music]
96. 4:03[Music]
97. 4:10so
98. 4:16our next stop was mykonos which is one
99. 4:18of the more popular greek islands and
100. 4:20all i really knew of mykonos before
101. 4:22coming here is that it's popular for
102. 4:24nightlife and celebrity spotting but i
103. 4:26didn't anticipate how beautiful it would
104. 4:29be there's a section of the town called
105. 4:31little venice and it's full of the most
106. 4:33picturesque pathways you can imagine
107. 4:36little restaurants shops flowers and
108. 4:38vines it was the perfect place for a
109. 4:40stroll and a nap
110. 4:44[Music]
111. 4:47this morning we've made it to skiathos
112. 4:49greece which might be the prettiest
113. 4:52place we've stopped so far in my opinion
114. 4:54this is one of the islands mamma mia was
115. 4:56filmed on which is super fun so this
116. 4:58morning i'm heading onto the island and
117. 5:00i'm determined to get a boat to take me
118. 5:03out to one of the beautiful beaches
119. 5:04around here but i haven't booked
120. 5:05anything so i'm just winging it
121. 5:20i have gotten so lucky i got on a boat
122. 5:22tour that is going to be going around to
123. 5:24all these little beaches and islands all
124. 5:27day and actually the tour was full but i
125. 5:29was looking at the boat and it was
126. 5:30enormous and there was tons of open
127. 5:32seating on it so i just hung around
128. 5:34until everyone else had boarded and then
129. 5:35i was like i'm a solo traveler it's just
130. 5:38me is there room to squeeze one more on
131. 5:40and they were like yeah i think we can
132. 5:42do that if it's just you which is
133. 5:43another perk of traveling by yourself is
134. 5:46it so easy to get added onto things at
135. 5:48the last minute and it is so beautiful
136. 5:51out here the water is so blue and clear
137. 5:55and this is like the best day ever
138. 6:08[Music]
139. 6:23today we've arrived in boscada turkey
140. 6:27which is our last stop before we get to
141. 6:30istanbul tomorrow where we disembark
142. 6:32from the ship i have something kind of
143. 6:34fun to share with you that i learned a
144. 6:36few days ago from my guide at ephesus in
145. 6:40turkey and i believe in greece as well
146. 6:42there's something called the evil eye
147. 6:44and it's a blue eye you'll see it all
148. 6:46over souvenir shops jewelry and the
149. 6:49meaning of the evil eye is that you can
150. 6:52tell somebody's true intentions from
151. 6:55their eyes and the example that the
152. 6:56guide gave us was really cute she said
153. 6:59somebody could say to you i really like
154. 7:01your sunglasses and they could say it
155. 7:03different ways they could say it like oh
156. 7:04i really like your sunglasses or they
157. 7:06could say oh i really like those
158. 7:08sunglasses like i envy them i want them
159. 7:12and she's saying that if somebody said
160. 7:13it to you that way your friend would be
161. 7:15like we need to get you an evil eye to
162. 7:18ward off the bad energy but the thing
163. 7:20about the evil eye is you can't buy it
164. 7:23for yourself because that would be
165. 7:25selfish energy and everyone would just
166. 7:27go out and buy themselves evil eye
167. 7:28things all the time so it has to be
168. 7:30gifted to you so i guess it's common if
169. 7:33you've just bought a house or you're
170. 7:34planning a wedding or you're doing
171. 7:35something else really big in life that
172. 7:37people will gift you evil eye things so
173. 7:40at the end of the tour our guide went
174. 7:42around and she gifted each of us a
175. 7:44little evil eye charm and i have one
176. 7:47with a fish on it i might just pin this
177. 7:50inside of my camera backpack to ward off
178. 7:53evil energy of like somebody stealing it
179. 7:56or something breaking
180. 8:00i'm walking around boscata i got a
181. 8:02little distracted for a minute oh my
182. 8:05gosh
183. 8:08i have to say this is one of the most
184. 8:11photogenic places i've ever been in my
185. 8:13life and it did not look like that from
186. 8:15the ship the coastline looks very barren
187. 8:17from out on the water but then you get
188. 8:19here and every little corner you turn
189. 8:22around is so beautiful i cannot believe
190. 8:25i haven't heard of this place before
191. 8:27[Music]
192. 8:46for my final morning on the ship i got
193. 8:48up before sunrise and went up to the
194. 8:49observation deck istanbul is considered
195. 8:52to be one of the most spectacular
196. 8:54cities in the world to sail in or out of
197. 8:57and this was one of the highlights of my
198. 9:00trip
199. 9:08[Music]
200. 9:22[Music]
201. 9:29istanbul surprised me i've always wanted
202. 9:32to visit this city but i never realized
203. 9:34how vibrant and bustling it is and a few
204. 9:37other people from the ship were
205. 9:38extending their time in istanbul as well
206. 9:40so i had some friends to sightsee with
207. 9:42for the day first we went to the spice
208. 9:44bazaar which was really cool and we
209. 9:46weren't planning on buying anything but
210. 9:48then this guy coaxed us into his shop
211. 9:50with some tea samples and he was awesome
212. 9:53he insisted we sample everything in the
213. 9:55shop tea perfume you put only just one
214. 9:58piece of hot water smell it now and it
215. 10:00was all really good so i ended up buying
216. 10:02some things istanbul is the only city in
217. 10:04the world that sits on two continents
218. 10:07one part is in europe and the other in
219. 10:09asia and it's split by the boss for a
220. 10:11straight so we walked across the bridge
221. 10:13from europe over to asia to take some
222. 10:15photos along the water then walked back
223. 10:18to europe to find a spot for lunch
224. 10:20istanbul sits on a bit of a hill and
225. 10:22there are so many rooftop establishments
226. 10:24and we found the perfect spot for some
227. 10:27food and great views
228. 10:29[Music]
229. 10:34at sunset we went to sultan ahmet park
230. 10:37to see the blue mosque and hagia sophia
231. 10:40which sit facing each other across a
232. 10:42square the architecture of both is
233. 10:44incredibly beautiful and we ended up
234. 10:46finding a rooftop restaurant for dinner
235. 10:48that had views of both of them for
236. 10:50sunset this is one of the best
237. 10:52restaurant views i've ever had it's also
238. 10:54probably the most birds i've ever seen
239. 10:57in my life like what is this and i was
240. 11:00so excited taking pictures of the
241. 11:02changing light in the buildings
242. 11:04illuminating that i could hardly sit and
243. 11:06eat
244. 11:12well this is the end of my trip i had
245. 11:15the best time thank you again to
246. 11:17seabourn for hosting me the seabourn
247. 11:19encore is incredible just the food alone
248. 11:23there are so many dining options you
249. 11:25have the thomas keller grill which is
250. 11:27some of the best food you'll ever eat in
251. 11:28your life and they made a tableside
252. 11:30caesar salad for me that was amazing
253. 11:32there's also a sushi restaurant that was
254. 11:34so good there's poolside dining there's
255. 11:37fine dining at the restaurant there's a
256. 11:39coffee bar and snacks at seabourn square
257. 11:41there's even a cute little gelato cart
258. 11:43also at the top of the ship there's a
259. 11:45space called the retreat where you can
260. 11:47rent a private cabana order food drinks
261. 11:50relax the entire experience is top-notch
262. 11:54the crew is so wonderful and the service
263. 11:58is phenomenal and it's a much more
264. 12:00intimate cruising experience because the
265. 12:02ships are a lot smaller than your
266. 12:04typical cruise ships which is really
267. 12:06nice and also smaller ships can navigate
268. 12:09through smaller places so you can go in
269. 12:11little inlets you can get up closer to
270. 12:14things thanks for coming along with me
271. 12:15on this one i hope you all are doing
272. 12:17well and i will see you in the next one
273. 12:20bye
274. 12:22[Music]
275. 12:35you